Вход

вход по аккаунту

Патент USA US2404458

код для вставки на сайт или в блог

Ширина: (aвто)

Высота:

ссылки на документ

адрес страницы документа

адрес полноэкранного варианта

короткий адрес

July 23, 1946-
2,404,458
J. 5-. REEVES '
DECORTICATING MACHINE
Filed March 25,1944 '
2 Sheets-Sheet 1
W“
INVENTOR.
_
~foiuz 5'. Reeves.
BY
W, Mrfm
ATTORNEYS
, July 23, 1946.‘
J. S.VREEVES
.
2,404,458
DECORTICATING MACHINE
,F‘ileduérch 25, 1944
2- Sheets-Sheet 2_
aw
L?
\\
Lf
INVENTOR.
' JolzzzQSRégves
ATTURNEYE:
Patented July 23, 1946
TLEYD
‘PAT EN T =0F'F'l C E
2,404,458
‘
'DEGQRTICATING MACHINE
‘John ‘St. fRe'eves, Baltim'0re,‘
' . Applicati0nsMarchlQ5, 1944, Sél‘i?lr’NO-J5285129
(015194-12)
2
vless ,expensive .to construct ...and ~maintain, .and
capable .of .producing. a greater yield of . cleaned
This invention .relates to ‘decorticating .ma
.chines particularly adaptedlforlthe production
?ber substantially without .gbreakage.
of ?ber from the leaves .of ,plantsof the..Agave
family, such asSansevieria, .cabulla,,.Maya,lp1ta
.Another vobject .is to provide an improved
.scutching action in which ‘successive blades en
gage .the. leaf ?rst at its end and .thenTat-lpoints
. ?ora, ~ henequen,. and the like.
The leaves of .such .plants .are r-long ‘ and .rela
progressively‘farther~from the end, the length: of
leaf subjected to-scutching thus increasing .by
relatively small increments.
tively narrow and .contain -longitudinal white
?bers ewhich ~. can .be. recovered by Y. cleaning . away
theipulp, juice, etc. Inathe .~,us.ual.,machine this
waste material, referre'd'toas bagasse',.is stripped
'
vA furtheriobject is to .eliminate the scutching
face and wheelas'heretofore' known and to clean
the leaves .by passing them between ?at-:rel-a
tively rotatable surfaces.
A stillfurther object is to. utilize the scutch
scutchingface substantially concentric with! the
.ing
movement of .the blades for the-additional
.15
wheel, the vblades exerting .a squeezing .and
purpose of feeding'the leaves through the ‘ap
scraping effect which travels progressively along
10
from: the. leaves .byr scutching blades ,mounte'd. .on
the periphery of a rotating wheel .or, .drum.
The leaves hang downwardly .over an .arcuate
the leaves toward their .free ends,_,stripping
paratus.
.
Still another object is to clean'substantially
theientire
length of a leaf in one-scutching‘op
scutching surface and bladesmustbe .verysmall
to insure ei?cient- cleaning, .i. ,- e., - on. thev order .of 20 eration.
away the bagasse.
The clearance ‘between .the
several thousandthsl of an . inch.
To provide a complete .cleaning .of :the leaves
from butt to ‘tip, they areheld i?rstso :that
one end. hangs downoverl-the scutching. face -, and
this half of the ;leaf is cleaned, and-then the ‘
leaves are automatically reversed :(and Lheldby
the cleaned ?ber while the .otheren'dor .half .is
being cleaned. The second cleaning loperation
may be accomplished by Va.secondscutchingwheel
as in my prior Patent .-~No..;2.,34l,29.0, .oreach .leaf
‘maybe caused to pass the same scutching wheel
twice, once for each end-to be-cleaned.
Other objects will appear hereinafter as the
description of - the invention w.‘proceeds.
Broadly stated, apparatus embodying the
present invention comprises relatively rotatable
members one of which has a-substantially ?at
scutching surface, the otherimember being v‘pro
.vided .withvmore or less radialscutching blades
which project into .-close Eproximity with the
scutching surface. Usually the'scutching ‘sur
face will comprise a stationary horizontal sup
port and the blades .willbe carried .by a rotat
ablememberuabove the-support, butythe inven
Machines of the types referreddtorabovepro
duce satisfactory-cleaned ?ber, but ‘the mecha
tion .is .not limited to .this arrangement. .The
desirably complex and productiomand 1mainte
feeding-edgesof‘the ?at scutchingsurface. The
shape .andextent of this surfaceare otherwise
scutching. support will also preferably cover only
nisms necessary (for feeding .thelea-vesvpastnthe ;',"= a part of the area of the circle. of rotation of the
rotating-orupper member, being provided with
scutching wheel or wheels ‘and for handling the
a,.more or less radial edge which. constitutes the
leaves and turning them :end afor-Mend rare vun
nance costs are correspondingly ~rhigh. .From
the ‘standpoint *of quantity production, more 4410 imm.aterial,provided of coursefthat it covers vthe
scutching area.
.
over, the output of- cleaned v?berper machine is
too low.
The'scutching blades engage the-leaves
near the-middle and move .toward'the ends, so
that the'bagasse‘fromatheentire:half of alleaf
The leaves are fed across theffeeding edge-end
?rst and "the rapidly rotating blades ?rst en
gage'and clean the-tipsrrof-the leaves and then
of “the .blades. This w remove successive small sections of bagasse as
the leaves advance, so that the cleaned ?ber end
scutching e'action tends ‘to v- cause breaking roii - of
gradually increases in length and theescutching
the ?bers near the end of the ‘leaf, decreasing
~action ‘moves jprogressivel-y up the (leaves. ‘At
both the amount ‘and the .leng-throf the l-?ber
is
stripped
off
ahead
produced. Further the‘ capacity, of the machine
the?same'time the blades :pull-thewleaves with
is limited “because the a danger. of such (breakage
themithroughthe a apparatus,v the rate: of feed ~of
becomes rapidly greater as the ‘speed "of :the
scutching wheel is increased.
On'e-ofthe objects of -the present/invention is
to provide a ->novel':apparatus/of (the {class-de
ferred to :employ :suitable :mechanicaljgripping
scribed :above which i‘ is simpler in ~ construction,
deviees‘which :move :at :the desired --.rate. ,
the leaves being:controlled:byholdingthe ends
of the-zleavesiagainst this pull. :‘I-‘hismay be ‘done
manually‘sif desired, but usually it will ‘be pre
4
With a radial feeding edge, the direction of
motion of the blades as they cross the feeding
edge is at right angles to the edge so that the
leaves are pulled into the machine. However, the
direction of the feeding edge may depart consid
tating in a plane parallel and closeto the scutch
ing surface. Any suitable means may be provid
ed for rotating the scutching member l3, prefer
ably at a relatively rapid rate. As shown, the
lower'end 0f the shaft 9 carries a ‘gear l5 mesh
erably from the radial direction, provided that
ing‘ with an idler it‘ which is driven by a pinion
the direction of movement of the blades over the
I7, bevel gears l8, I9, and a motor 20.
Leaves to be cleaned are fed to the apparatus
chine. Asmore and more of the leaf is cleaned,
in .the position shown in Fig. .1 .in which the tip
the cleaned ‘?ber moves across the scutching 10 of the leaf passes over the'radial feeding edge ‘I
area and also radially outward due to the tan
at a point near shaft 9, the longitudinal axisof
gential feeding action of the blades, being thus _ the leaf making an acute angle with the feeding
kept away from the center of rotation and. dis
edge. As the tip of the leaf passes over the feed~
charged at the periphery of the machine.
‘ ing edge, it is immediately engaged by the inner
Preferably the ends of the leaves are fed across 15 ends of the scutching blades which draw the leaf
the feeding edge at a point near the center of
farther into the scutching area while at the same
rotation, and the outerrends~ of the leaves are '
time ‘stripping the bagasse from the ?ber. As
. edge is such as to draw the leaves into the ma
caused to move in a path which passes closely -
the leaves move farther into the scutching area, A
by the outer end of the feeding edge so thatsub
the rotating scutching blades engagethe leaf at
stantially the entire length of the leaf is cleaned
in one pass through the machine; The angle
between the, longitudinal axis of the leaves and
the feeding 'edge'as the leaves are fed to thema
chinermay vary'considerably, and the direction
successively higher points in its length, each re
moving an additional portion of the bagasse
therefrom. Meanwhile the cleaned ?ber at the
ends of the leaves moves both forward across the
scutching'area and radially, outwardly as‘ shown
‘of the path of movementof the outer ends of the 25 in Fig. 1, due to the tangential action of the
leaves will be adjusted accordingly. However, the
blades. As this action continues the outer end
longitudinal axis jof the leaves Should not be
of the leaf, which is suitably held against the pull
transverse to the direction of movement of the
of the scutching action, travels past the outer
blades as the leaves enter the scutching area, nor
end
c'fvthevr'adial feeding edge and the cleaned
depart too far from parallelism with the direction, 30 ?ber is discharged at thefperiphery of the ma
because of the danger of breaking or cutting off
chine, leaving only the small, butt ends of the
the ?ber. For example, the angle between the
leaves un'cleaned.
'
'
'
direction of movement of the blades and the 1011
‘While as stated above the leaves may be fed -
gitudinal axis of theleaf should not exceed say
45°, in which case the angle between the leaf axis
and the feeding edge "(if radial) must not be less
than 45°.
7
V
,,
35
means a suitable form of which is illustrated in
the drawings. A series'ofmoving leafLsupport
"
Oneembodiment of the invention is illustrated
in the accompanying drawing‘s‘but it is to be ex
pressly understood that said drawingsj'are for
purposes ofillustration only and arenot to be
40
construed as a de?nition of the limits of the in
In‘ the
drawings,
'
'
ing table 23, the chain sprockets“ operating be
neath slots in the tableso that the fingers 22
project above the table top and'engage and slide
,
,
_
._
'
e.
1
' Fig. 'l is a plan view of an apparatus, embody
the leavesoif the table. Attheirfopposi'te ends,
ing the invention,'parts being broken away, for
clarity of illustration; and
'
I
,
.
_'
Fig. 2 is a side view of the‘ apparatus shown
inFigLl...
..
.7
ing chains ‘2| are provided with upwardly'pro
.jecting'feeding ?ngers 22, groups or series of fin
gers on'the several chains ‘being arranged at the
angle at which it is desired to present the leaves
to the machine. The leaves are placed on a feed
vention, ‘reference being had to the appended
claims ‘for this purpose.
manually to such an apparatus, “it is preferred
in most cases to employ mechanical feeding
50
' The apparatus comprises any suitable frame
work here shown as having abed plate I and up
rights 2 suitably arranged to provide Supports
andbearings for the parts. The’ horizontal frame
the chains run on sprockets 25,,which operate be
neath‘ slots formed inthescutchingsupport 6 so '
that as the leavesare fed to the machine, the ?n‘- ;
gers 22__ drop down beneath the scutching surface.
The lower reaches of the chains 2| pass around
idler sprockets 26 which may '_ be 'adjustably
mounted to regulate the slack in the chains. ' The
‘chains’ may be driven in any suitable manner
members 3 form a well 4 in which a hollow verti 65 and, in the form shown the "shaft 2'! which car
cal‘post or column 5 is seated, this column carry
ing a horizontal, ?at scutching support 6 at its
upper end. ' In the form, shown, the support 5
has the shape of a sector of a circle, having a
radial feeding edge 1 'as above described and 60
terminating at 8 (Fig. 1).
A shaft 9 passes
"through the hollow column 5 and through the
bottom of‘the well 4,_ the lower end of the shaft
having a suitable step’bearing I0 and the upper
ries the sprockets 24 "also .carries a drive sprocket
28 whichis ‘connected by a drive chain v29 with‘a
sprocket 30 driven by a worm wheel 3| and a
worm 32 on the shaftof the motor 20. I
_
‘For the purpose of holding the outer ends of
the leaves, a pair of chains 33, 34 are arranged
one above the, other on sprockets 35, 36, the lower
sprocket 35 being mounted on the shaft 2'! re
ferred to, above. The chains 33, 34 extend past
end rotating in a hearing I I carried in the frame 65 the circumference of the rotating scutching mem;
members l2.
‘
_
ber l3 and around sprockets one of which is in-v
' The shaft 9 carries a rotating scutching mem
dicated at_ 31 in Fig. l, the sprockets 31 being
geared together’ by pinions 38, 39 vso that both
chains are driven at the same‘ speed. ‘(The chains
l4. Preferably these blades HIV are ‘generally ra 70 carry pads which are suitably designed to engage
dial‘ in direction and cover substantially the en'
and hold the butt ends of the leavers between'them
ber l3, the lower surface of which is ‘provided
with a plurality of projecting scutching blades
tire lowerisurface of the member‘ l3 as shown in
dotted lines ‘in Fig. I. As shown in Fig. _2, the
blades ‘also projecti'into close proximity to the
as the leaves are moved off' thefeeding table '23‘
and asv they ‘are carried forward toward the
machine by‘ the chains ‘I 21 . _ ‘Preferably thev upper
scutching" support '6 with‘their lower‘ edges ro 75 reach of the‘lower chain 33 moves ‘on a support 40
2,404,458
5
and the lower reach of the upper chain 34 is
pressed downwardly by a bar M which may be
spring loaded as shown at 42.
When the leaves are discharged from the ma
chine as described above, it will be seen that sub
stantially the entire length of the leaf consists
of cleaned ?ber, leaving uncleaned only the butt
ends which are held between the chains 33, 34.
6
having a feeding edge for leaves to be cleaned
that is substantially radial with respect to the
axis of rotation of said member, and means for
holding the outer ends of the leaves against the
pull exerted thereon by the scutching blades.
5. Apparatus of the class described comprising
a ?at substantially horizontal scutching table, a
scutching member mounted to rotate above said
table on a substantially vertical axis, said mem
If it is now desired to clean the butt ends of the
leaves, a suitable supplemental mechanism may 10 ber having blades projecting into close proximity
be combined with the machine above described.
For example, the shafts of the sprockets 31 may
also carry a pair of sprockets 43 which drive a
with the surface of said table, said table having
a feeding edge for leaves to be cleaned that is
substantially radial with respect to the axis of
rotation of said member, and means for holding
pair of chains 44 similar to chains 33, 34. The
sprockets 43 are located adjacent the periphery of 15 the outer ends of the leaves against the pull ex
erted thereon by the scutching blades, said means
the machine so that the cleaned ?ber discharged
being movable toward the feeding edge to control
therefrom is received between the chains 44, the
the rate of feed of the leaves.
butt ends of the leaves thereafter passing from
6. Apparatus of the class described comprising
engagement between the chains 33, 3d and hang
a ?at substantially horizontal scutching table, a
ing down from the chains 44. The butt ends may
scutching member mounted to rotate above said
now be cleaned by a small scutching wheel 45 of
table on a substantially vertical axis, said mem
known type which carries blades 45 and brushes
ber having blades projecting into close proximity
41 cooperating with a scutching support 43, the
with the surface of said table, said table having
wheel being driven in any suitable manner as by
a chain 49 and a motor 50.
7
25 a feeding edge for leaves to be cleaned that is
substantially radial with respect to the axis of
It will be understood that the embodiment tha
rotation of said member, and means for feeding
has been described above with particularity and
leaves under said rotating member to said feed
illustrated in the drawings is for purposes of ex
ing edge.
ample only and that the invention is not re
7. Apparatus of the class described comprising
stricted thereto but is susceptible of a variety of 30
a flat substantially horizontal scutching table, a
mechanical expressions, many of which will now
scutching member mounted to rotate above said
occur to those skilled in the art, and it will also
table on a substantially vertical axis, said member '
be apparent that various changes may be made in
having blades projecting into close proximity
of the parts without departing from the spirit of 35 with the surface of said table, said table having
a feeding edge for leaves to be cleaned that is
the invention. Reference should therefore be had
substantially radial with respect to the axis of
to the appended claims for a de?nition of the
rotation of said member, means for feeding leaves
limits of the invention.
under said rotating member to said feeding edge,
What is claimed is:
1. Apparatus of the class described comprising 40 and means for holding the outer ends of the
leaves against the pull exerted thereon by the
a ?at scutching support and a scutching member
scutching blades.
rotatable relative thereto and having blades pro
8. Apparatus of the class described comprising
jecting into close proximity with the surface of
a ?at substantially horizontal scutching table, a
said support, said support having a feeding edge
scutching member mounted to rotate above said
for leaves to be cleaned that is substantially radial
the form, details of construction and arrangement '
table on a substantially vertical axis, said mem
relative to the axis of rotation of said scutching
ber having blades projecting into close proxim
member.
ity with the surface of said table, said table hav
2. Apparatus of the class described comprising
ing a feeding-edge for leaves to be cleaned that
a ?at substantially horizontal scutching table, and
a scutching member mounted to rotate above said 50 is substantially radial with respect to the axis
of rotation of said member, means for feeding
table on ‘a substantially vertical axis, said mem
leaves under said rotating member to said feed
ber having blades projecting into close proximity
ing edge, and means for holding the outer ends
with the surface of said table, said table having a
of the leaves against the pull exerted thereon by
feeding edge for leaves to be cleaned that is sub
stantially radial with respect to the axis of rota 55 the scutching blades, said means being movable
toward said edge to control the rate of feed of
tion of said member.
said leaves.
3. Apparatus of the class described comprising
9. Apparatus of the class described comprising
a ?at substantially horizontal scutching table, a
a flat substantially horizontal scutching table, a
scutching member mounted to rotate above said
table on a substantially vertical axis, said 60 scutching member mounted to rotate above said
table onra substantially vertical axis, said mem
member having blades projecting into close prox
ber having blades projecting into close proximity
imity with the surface of said table, said table
with the surface of said table, said table having a
having a feeding edge for leaves to be cleaned that
feeding edge for leaves to be cleaned that is sub
is substantially radial with respect to the axis of
rotation of said member, and means for feeding 65 stantially radial with respect to the axis of ro
tation of said member, means for feeding leaves
leaves under said rotating member to said feed
ing edge.
4. Apparatus of the class described compris
ing a ?at substantially horizontal scutching ta
under said rotating member to said feeding edge,
and means for holding the outer ends of the leaves
against the pull exerted thereon by the scutching
ble, a scutching member mounted to rotate above 70 blades, said means being movable toward said
edge and past the periphery of rotation of said
said table on a substantially vertical axis, said
member at one side thereof.
member having blades projecting into close prox
imity with the surface of said table, said table
JOHN S. REEVES,